David and Goliath ~

Dear Op-Ed Editor:
I was three when I began reading The Times and I will soon turn ninety-three. Yet in all of these past ninety years, dear Editor(s), you have published nothing I have ever written you, letters or essays. Nolo contendere! The fault must lie with me and not the old gray lady. In any case, I am now re-submitting this Op-Ed essay. It relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and in its present form, it is particularly timely. DJG

Shades of David and Goliath . . .

>> Left click on map to enlarge it <<

Iraq and Iran aside! The tragedy that started in Canaan more than 3,000 years ago and now plays before the whole world is the apocalyptic struggle between Palestine and Israel. But why do we focus with such sharply polarized intensity upon this conflict? What is there about this very minute region of the Middle East that makes it so disproportionately huge as an area of our concern? Do we have a vital stake in its outcome? And why has God seemed not to care? Does He leave it to humanity to solve its own problems, as He once told Job? Whither, the answers?

How much longer can they continue to inflict horror and devastation upon each other? Has the time not come for Palestine and Israel to seek a modus vivendi (peace without a capital P)? Palestine cannot remain suspended forever in stateless animation, and Israel cannot be deprived of its right to exist. But would it not help for both sides to recall that neither has ever had a certified deed to the Holy Land. The Palestinians (Philistines) emigrated to Canaan from Crete and the Israelis were escorted there from Egypt, by Moses. The aboriginals they both de-occupied, were the Canaanites.

But if eventually, there is to be a two state division of the Holy Land, forgive me my temerity to suggest a tentative first step. Palestine should consider ceding to Israel all of the Gaza Strip and that part of the West Bank which includes and lies south of Jerusalem. Then, in return, Israel would cede approximately equal acreage to Palestine, the bulk of it to lie north and east of a line between the city of Nazareth and Jerusalem. Instead of the now totally devastated Gaza Strip, Palestine would have a habitable coast, north of Haifa. Nearly equal in length to Gaza, it would be contiguous with its newly created State. Implicit in this redistribution of land and people would be the elimination of Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria and an end to the Golan conflict.

Then, with good will and inspired acumen, Israel and Palestine could endeavor to address the intricately complex problem of Jerusalem. With encouragement and generous assistance, the Holy Land might at last have an opportunity to breathe easily and face the future with restored confidence not only in itself, but perhaps even in God. >I<

Mailed to The NY Times 8 days ago; it remains unpublished.

Comment:mailto:domgab1914@comcast.net

He stoned me while I wasn't looking ~ Goliath

I was only trying to get his attention ~ David

Hi ~ Perhaps we have met online, but more probably you don't know me from Adam. I monitor blogs for SamsonBlinded, and came across yours. I welcome you to look at Obadiah Shoher's blog. He is an anonymous Israeli politician who writes extremely controversial articles about Israel, the Middle East politics, and terrorism. Shoher is equally critical of Jewish and Muslim myths, and he advocates political rationalism instead of moralizing. Google banned our site from the AdWords and Yahoo blocked most of its pages. Amazon deleted all reviews of Obadiah's book, Samson Blinded: A Machiavellian Perspective on the Middle East Conflict. Nevertheless, 170,000 people from 78 countries read the book. Internet providers ban us periodically. This www.samsonblinded.com/ currently works. Please help us to spread Obadiah's message, and mention the blog in one of your posts. I would greatly appreciate your comments. Best wishes ~ Eugene Gershin

Thank you for stopping by. I checked out your site. I was impressed by what I read about Obadiah Shoher's book and the comments made by other readers. There is no disputing that the Israel/Palestine conflict is a loaded enigma of unmeasurable worldly importance ~ Dom Gabriele

This is a very erudite article. It opens the way for discussion between fair-minded people. But Jerusalem will remain an insoluble problem unless the antagonists realize that neither has an exclusive right to it ~ A. Correoso